May the Fourth Be With You – Some Jerk With a Camera Reviews Star Tours May 4, 2015
Posted by Maniac in Uncategorized.add a comment
Tony Goldmark, also known on the Internet as Some Jerk With a Camera, is a legendary online personality who reviews theme park rides. When I say review I don’t mean he goes on a ride and then writes about it, Tony will shoot a complex scripted review at a multitude of planned locations…while at the theme parks. His reviews are incredible!
One of his early reviews was of the original Star Tours ride shortly before it was replaced with a new version. Joined by two of his friends, The Wire of The Idiot’s Lantern and Spazzmaster, they wanted to see if the ride was still as good as we all remembered. You can watch the whole review here.
By the time he started his second season of reviews, the newly renovated Star Tours: The Adventure Continues ride relaunched in the Disney Parks, and Tony wanted to see if the updated ride was as good as the original. This review is in two parts, you can watch part 1 here and part 2 here.
I have to say that I was lucky enough to ride the original version of Star Tours four times. The first time I rode it was in 1994 at the Disney/MGM Studios in Walt Disney World, several months before I watched the original Star Wars films for the first time. When I got to ride it during my first trip to Disneyland in 1996 I was a full fledged Star Wars fan. My last ride in the original version was at the now renamed Disney’s Hollywood Studios some time around 2007, shortly before the ride’s renovations. I’ve never had the chance to ride the new version of Star Tours, but I really appreciated hearing Tony’s remarks about it.
What’s coming up next for Tony? He’s going to be reviewing The Simpsons Ride.
May The Fourth Be With You – The Angry Video Game Nerd Reviews Star Wars Games May 4, 2015
Posted by Maniac in Uncategorized.add a comment
James Rolfe, better known to the internet as The Angry Video Game Nerd, is one of the most popular video game reviewers on the entire internet. His ability to analyze awful video games for the original Nintendo, Super Nintendo and Atari consoles, coupled with his ability to use…colorful words to describe the rage he feels while playing these awful games, made him an online sensation.
A few years ago, The Angry Video Game Nerd did review several of the original video games produced with the Star Wars license, and gave his thoughts on them. Just be aware, there may be some colorful language used so, you might not want to watch this at work with your speakers cranked up. Enjoy.
As a post script to this review, I have to give props to a more recent video James did with his friend Mike, where they tried to win the Nintendo 64 classic Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire. Shadows of the Empire was a notoriously difficult game, especially on the Nintendo 64, and this video series needs to be seen to believed.
If you enjoyed these videos, make sure to check out Cinemassacre.com or The Angry Video Game Nerd’s Official YouTube Channel!
May The Fourth Be With You – The Star Wars Prequel Reviews by Harry S. Plinkett May 4, 2015
Posted by Maniac in Site News.add a comment
While they have their loyalists, many could argue that the Star Wars Prequels are a broken mess of incoherent plot holes and uninteresting, bland characters. Several years ago, the guys at RedLetterMedia decided to show the entire internet why, and they published a nearly feature length review of the first Star Wars prequel film, The Phantom Menace. It took the internet by storm, and is still considered to be one of the best videos to ever be put on YouTube.
The videos were narrated by a character named Harry S. Plinkett, a nearly senile old man living on his pension, trying to make it big in an Atlantic City casino while offering anyone who commented on his videos pizza rolls. He also may have been a psychopath but that’s another story.
Apparently Mr. Plinkett’s review drew the attention of not only Star Wars fans, but Hollywood filmmakers, producers, writers and directors because there was a heavy demand for RedLetterMedia to release reviews for the other two Star Wars films. Their review of Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones, was in my opinion even better than the first film’s review, and had moments that I will gleefully rewatch whenever I’m feeling upset or bored.
After the review of Episdode II, the stakes could not have been higher for a review of Episode III, but by this point RedLetterMedia started to branch out, producing new video review series for more recent films, called Half in the Bag, and a series for more obscure B-movies, called Best of the Worst. Eventually, they did release Plinkett’s review of Episode III, and it felt like the turning point for their entire website. Ladies and Gentelmen, I present you with his complete uncut review of Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of The Sith.
You can watch all of the Plinkett Reviews on RedletterMedia.com.
May The Fourth Be With You All – Star Wars Fanfilms May 4, 2015
Posted by Maniac in Site News.add a comment
Okay, we’re going to step a little bit outside of the Star Wars video game franchise for this one, but I felt like this needed to be discussed. Star Wars has inspired so much creativity in its fans for the past forty years and until Disney obtained the rights to the franchise, George Lucas had mostly allowed his fans to produce all the Star Wars inspired fanfilms they wanted. In fact there was even an epic fanfilm contest on Atomfilms where filmmakers could get their short films featured online.
There were just two rules that George Lucas had for anyone who wanted to make a Star Wars fanfilm, and the fanfilms I’ve posted here follow them. The first is that serious films could not include any of the existing Star Wars characters, filmmakers would need to create their own new characters if they wanted to make something serious. However, if the filmmakers wanted to make a Star Wars parody film, they could use any of the existing Star Wars characters they wanted. Today, I’m going to show some of my favorite parodies.
First up I want to show an animation that many people wish was based on a true story, Jar Jar’s Walking Papers. This short was actually a winner on Atomfilms for the best Star Wars fanfilm (animation). Jar Jar hate trumps all.
Next up didn’t win any awards, but it was a runner-up on the Atomfilms Star Wars fanfilm contest for best Documentary, Wan-Abi: The Making of A Fanfilm. It details the story of some filmmakers in Salt Lake City who want to make the ultimate fanfilm, and features the first appearance I have ever seen of a triple-bladed lightsaber.
This next film details The Battle of Hoth from The Empire Strikes Back in a way that only Ken Burns would deliver.
Next up, an important PSA on how to properly use your lightsaber.
Next up, Four More Years of Vader, where Darth Vader makes an appearance on the No Spin Zone just before The Battle of Endor. The short was directed by Hank Braxton, who you might remember produced the epic Ghostbusters fanfilms Freddy Vs Ghostbusters and Return of the Ghostbusters.
Not enough for you? Okay, here’s Trooper Clerks, an animated parody of the cult classic film Clerks using Star Wars characters.
Hope you enjoyed these short films! I know this is only the tip of the iceburg when it comes to Star Wars fanfilms but sadly after the fall of Atomfilms I’m afraid a lot of my other favorites have been lost to time. If you have your own favorite Star Wars fanfilms that haven’t been posted here, mention them in the comments section.
May The Fourth Be With You All – GameTrailers.com’s Star Wars Game Retrospective May 4, 2015
Posted by Maniac in Game News.add a comment
I’ve long held high regard for GameTrailers.com’s excellent Retrospectives series. They’re incredibly researched, well scripted, well edited and excellently narrated videos which rival television’s quality. A few years ago, GameTrailers was working on an epic-length ten part video Retrospective on Star Wars video games in honor of the upcoming release of The Force Unleashed. Only the Final Fantasy franchise has seen more episodes produced for their own Retrospective. This was an incredible undertaking which took several months to fully release.
I questioned the chronology of the retrospectives, because for some reason GameTrailers chose to feature games based on the prequel series before games based on the original trilogy, even though the games on the original trilogy were produced years earlier. They also lumped together some games that I didn’t think went well together, but that’s just my opinion. The retrospective is still very well produced and has some great information you may not be aware of!
You can watch the entire Star Wars Retrospective here on GameTrailers.com. It is over three hours in length, so make sure to set some time aside before you start watching it.
May The Fourth Be With You All – Star Wars Games Podcasts May 4, 2015
Posted by Maniac in Podcasts, Site Videos.add a comment
Here on GameXcess.net we’ve got an ongoing podcast series where Maniac talks about specific game franchises. It is an unscripted series where our host will usually talk about a franchise’s history, his experience with the games, and where he thinks the future holds.
In the time that we’ve been doing our podcast series, Maniac has recorded three podcasts specifically about Star Wars game franchises. In honor of Star Wars Day, we’re going to be reposting some of these Star Wars game podcasts. So if you’ve heard them before, or are just hearing them for the first time, enjoy and may The Force be with you.
First up is our Podcast on the famous Jedi Knight series.
Next up is our podcast on The Force Unleashed games.
Finally, here’s our podcast on the Knights of the Old Republic franchise.
May The Fourth Be With You All – Announcing Star Wars Day On The Site May 4, 2015
Posted by Maniac in Site News.add a comment
Today is May the Fourth, otherwise known online as Star Wars Day, a celebration of all Star Wars fandom. Let’s face it, Star Wars fans have had a rough ten years. We had to deal with three horrible prequel films, several awful video games, and tons of studios releasing film trilogies attempting to rival the magic of the Star Wars original movies.
But with a new Star Wars film coming this December, and a whole new Battlefront video game in development, Star Wars fans finally have a lot to be excited about! So, for the rest of today, in honor of Star Wars Day, I’m going to be writing about Star Wars. You might see some Star Wars content I’ve produced come back, you might see some great Star Wars content featured here from across the web, or you might see some new content that you’ve never seen before!
So let’s start with what you all want to see. If you haven’t seen it yet, here is the trailer for the next Star Wars film, Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
Happy Star Wars Day to everyone! Let’s get started, shall we?
GameXcess.net - Gaming News, Videos and Editorials! 